1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to Schottky barrier diodes, and more particularly, to such diodes having fast switching times.
2. Description of Related Art
A Schottky diode comprises a semiconductor substrate and a metal contact layer deposited on the substrate to form a Schottky barrier at the metal-semiconductor interface. A Schottky diode is primarily a majority carrier device. That is, under many circumstances (primarily low injection conditions), current is conducted primarily by majority carriers. As a consequence, Schottky diodes often have faster switching times than p-n junction diodes of comparable size. Nonetheless, for some applications, it is desirable to increase the speed of Schottky diodes even further.